Erling Braut Haaland dominates Forward of the Season award

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 05 June 2023

Manchester City's record-breaking striker Erling Braut Haaland dominates the voting to be named Striker of the Season in the annual Sports Mole Readers' Awards.

Manchester City striker Erling Braut Haaland has been named the Premier League Forward of the Season in the annual Sports Mole Readers' Awards.

The Norwegian, who was also named the overall Premier League player of the year in our end-of-season awards, dominated the forward-specific category with a whopping 63.8% of the votes.

Haaland enjoyed one of the greatest individual seasons in English football history during his debut campaign in the country, ending with an unprecedented 36 goals in just 35 games in the league.

That tally saw 22-year-old surpass the previous Premier League single-season scoring record held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, helping to fire Man City to a third successive title.

Haaland also helped Man City win the FA Cup and could mark his historic first season in English football with a treble when his side take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final on June 10.

In that match, Haaland will be bidding to add to his tally of 52 goals in as many games across all competitions in 2022-23 - a record only Dixie Dean can beat in the long history of English football.

Unsurprisingly given Haaland's dominance of the category, no other candidate got more than 10% in the voting for forward of the season, with Manchester United's Marcus Rashford proving to be his closest challenger with 9.3%.

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka completes the podium with 7% of the votes, while 30-goal Harry Kane earned 5.6% for his joint-best scoring season in an underperforming Tottenham Hotspur team.

PREMIER LEAGUE FORWARD OF THE SEASON RESULTS

1. Erling Braut Haaland (Manchester City) - 63.7%
2. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) - 9.3%
3. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) - 7%
4. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) - 5.6%
5. Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal) - 3.9%
= Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 3.9%
7. Jack Grealish (Manchester City) - 2.2%
8. Ivan Toney (Brentford) - 1.4%
9. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) - 1.7%
10. Callum Wilson (Newcastle United) - 1.1%